Australian National Airways (1930)
_hanger_Mascot_1929-1931_ULM.jpg) Australian National Airways Limited (A.N.A.) hangar, Kingsford Smith Airport, Mascot | |
| Founded | 1929 |
|---|---|
| Commenced operations | January 1930 |
| Ceased operations | 1931 |
| Fleet size | See Aircraft below |
| Key people | |
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Australian National Airways, Ltd. (ANA) was a short-lived Australian airline, founded on 3 January 1929 by Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.[1]
ANA began scheduled services on 1 January 1930.[2] It owned five Avro 618 Tens,[1] that were British license-built versions of Kingsford Smith and Ulm's famous Fokker VII/3m Southern Cross, which also flew as an ANA aircraft although was not owned by it.
The company operated a regular passenger and airmail service between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne that was in January 1931 extended to Launceston and Hobart in Tasmania.[3] Unable to obtain a formal mail subsidy, the deepening Great Depression saw revenues fall, a situation that worsened after the crash of VH-UMF Southern Cloud in the Australian Alps between Sydney and Melbourne on 21 March 1931. ANA ceased scheduled services at the end of June 1931,[4] although it continued to operate joy flights mostly around New South Wales,[5] and offered pilot training services with a fleet of small aircraft.[6]
Late in 1931 ANA attempted to open an Australia-England airmail service with a special Christmas airmail flight that was interrupted by the crash of VH-UNA Southern Sun in Malaya. After lengthy efforts to interest the Australian Government in subsidising a regular Australia-UK airmail service failed, ANA went into voluntary liquidation in April 1933, and its remaining assets were sold off.[7]
Aircraft
[edit]- VH-UMF Southern Cloud (crashed March 1931)
- VH-UMG Southern Star. Sold March 1933 to Hart Aircraft Service of Melbourne to operate a regular Melbourne-Launceston service and renamed Tasman.
- VH-UMH Southern Sky, sold to Keith Virtue's New England Airways.
- VH-UMI Southern Moon. Sold 1933 to Charles Ulm, rebuilt as the long-distance flight aircraft VH-UXX Faith in Australia.
- VH-UNA Southern Sun (crashed November 1931)
- VH-USU Southern Cross, owned privately by Kingsford Smith and Ulm.
- VH-UOB Avro Avian, used for flight training.[8]
- VH-UKE Westland Widgeon, used for flight training.[9]
- VH-UQG Avro 616 Sports Avian Southern Cross Minor, used by Kingsford Smith in attempted record flight 1931 then sold.
- VH-UOL Avro 621 Tutor, used for flight training.[10]
- VH-UIC De Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth, apparently used for flight training.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "Southern Cloud clock". National Museum of Australia. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
- ^ "Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (1897–1935)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
- ^ "Strait Aerial Service". Examiner. 17 January 1931.
- ^ "Australian Airways". Barrier Miner. July 1931.
- ^ Smith, Kingsford (13 October 1931). "Southern Cross Gives Joy Rides on Country Tours". The Advertiser. Adelaide. Retrieved 6 September 2024 – via trove.nla.gov.au.
- ^ "Aviation in Australia". Daily Mercury. 15 February 1933.
- ^ "Wife is Her Own Boss, Says Judge". Sun. 24 January 1932.
- ^ "Advertising". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 June 1933.
- ^ "Advertising". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 June 1933.
- ^ "Civil Aircraft Register - Australia".
